


Drowsky & O'Lolth, Dark Elf Detectives

by Kiiratam



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Blood, Dark Elves, Drug Use, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, Furry, Gore, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, M/M, Murder Mystery, Physical Abuse, Police Procedural, Sexual Coercion, Slavery, Strangulation, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:26:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4599774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This week on Attercops - Murder! Drugs! Sex! Slave Explosions! Cock Rampages!</p><p>O'Lolth and Drowsky investigate a murder at the Delta Tau Phi sorority house with all the professionalism one might expect from Chaotic Evil officers of the law.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drowsky & O'Lolth, Dark Elf Detectives

**Author's Note:**

> This is a light-hearted romp through an absolutely horrible society, in the company of absolutely horrible people. Most of the tags are only touched on - set dressing, if you will. However, if you have serious trouble with abuses of police power (in the fictive sense; occurs throughout) or strangulation as part of a sexual assault (one scene), I would give this one a pass.

"Drowsky! O'Lloth! My office! Now!" The captain's voice didn't overwhelm the chatter of the station house, but very little can quiet a swarm of agitated attercops.  
"Damn nuisances," Detective Tiir Drowky shoved his way through the spider-faced creatures, breaking out of the swarm just as his partner joined him. "Why do we even let them into the station?"  
Detective Valeen O'Lloth brushed a stray lock of brilliant red hair back behind her exquisitely tipped ear. "Regulations clearly state that all citizens are permitted to file charges at the station."  
Drowsky used some choice eldritch oaths and made an obscene gesture with an elegant white hand, and a decorative potted mushroom on a nearby desk burst into flames.  
"You know some mushroom spores are highly toxic when burnt, yes?" O'Lloth raised a highly rhetorical eyebrow.  
"It was Dox's mushroom, anyway. He stopped talking to me."  
Before O'Lloth could comment further, there were nose-to-soaring-nasal-architecture-to-nose with Captain Trow. She waved a sheaf of singed papers in their faces. "You'd better have a damn fine explanation for this!"  
"Captain. In private? The matters are somewhat... sensitive." O'Lloth wore her best 'secrecy must be preserved face.' Which, to be fair, was rather similar to her regular (almost luminescent dark brown) face, so the amateur could be forgive for confusing the two of them.  
The Captain scowled, seized O'Lolth's lapel and pulled her over the threshold. Drowsky sighed and followed, pulling the door shut behind him.

X X X 

Half an hour later, O'Lloth strutted out of the Captain's office, adjusting the fit of her jacket. Drowsky padded after her, running a hand through his short black hair. "I don't know how you're able to do that."  
"I recommend manual stimulation-"  
"No, no, not that."  
"I hear differently."  
Drowsky exploded a passing suspect's head.  
Raising a hand, O'Lloth smiled luminously at the arresting officer. "Don't worry, that one will count towards your quota. Have the paperwork on my desk by tomorrow."  
"How do you manage to take us from 'hand over your badge and web-shooter' to 'giving us choice assignments'?" Drowsky flourished the papers in his hand.  
"Don't worry about the past; think about the future: A nice, interesting mystery at the university. With nubile, stupid, beautiful people all around."  
Drowsky handed the report to his partner. "Grab our cloaks; I'll bring the coach around. You read, I'll drive."

X X X

The coach bounced over the smoothed stone road at a good clip, the draft-lizard too well trained to stop and make a snack of any of the passing goblin slaves. From the precinct house to the university was a good distance, a long weaving climb up switchbacks to where the university grounds perched above the docks. The waves of the underground sea echoed against the cavern walls, swallowing the sounds of the city.  
"What've we got?" Drowsky asked over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the road. It wouldn't do to run an influential citizen off the road. There were consequences for that.  
"Murder."  
"Well, I wasn't expecting an orgy customized to our tastes."  
"No, I'm afraid we'll have to manage that ourselves."  
"Which brings me back to: what've we got?"  
"A Mr. Adolf Howlstein IV, son of High Priestess Naadya Dokkalfar and metallurgy mogul Adolf Howlstein III."  
Drowsky risked an incredulous glance back. "Dokkalfar didn't use the clone tanks? Of all people..."  
"Spending so much time looking over clone templates, maybe she just wanted to roll the dice."  
"And look how that turned out."  
"Drowsky, we cannot close this case with 'I'm sorry, High Priestess, but your son wasn't up to the standards of our race. This wasn't murder, this was natural selection.'"  
"Why not?"  
"Because I'm not that good at oral sex."  
Drowsky gave a chuff of amusement. "Circumstances?"  
"And I quote, 'extracurriculars.' The scene is at Delta Tau Phi."  
"Eaten by an lingerie boggle?"  
"Nothing so open and shut, I'm afraid. It seems Howlstein the Fourth had a charm laid upon him that rendered him immune to injury."  
"Micalherd's Marvelous Misdirection? Ikhob's Illustrious Invinciblity? Kannoth's Fuck-You-And Your-Swords-Too?"  
"The report doesn't say."  
"Campus police! May as well hire heavily armed hobos for your security detail."  
"They did send a messenger to us quickly. The scene's only going to be an hour or two old."  
"Any suspects?"  
"They've detained several witnesses. But most of the members of Delta Tau Phi also have influential mothers, so they're being handled delicately. Apparently, they're saving the questioning for us."  
"Of course. Why risk their lives, when city detectives are on the way to take the heat? I thought you said this was a good assignment?" Drowsky slapped the reins, beating another carriage through the intersection.  
"It is. Quite aside from all of the enthusiastic university students, it has an excellent chance of raising our profile among the elites of the city. Not just with Dokkalfar and Howlstein, but also with the mothers of anyone who were determined to be innocent."  
"You're leaving out the part where the mother of the guilty party is going to demand our heads."  
O'Lloth clicked her tongue. "I was getting to that part. All we have to do is be sure the case is airtight, and present ourselves as filled with sadness at finding all of this evidence to find whoever it is guilty."  
"And what if we can't find enough evidence?"  
"You'd be astonished at how much evidence can turn up if you just look hard enough."  
A grin spread across Drowsky's face. "That's my favorite sort of evidence."

X X X

Adolf Howlstein the Fourth lay on his back in a enormous, round bed with painfully red sheets. He had all the characteristics one would expect of a wolfman, but his enormous, jutting erection drew attention away from any other features.  
O'Lloth frowned. "It shouldn't still be doing that. The blood should be pooling in his back."  
"And yet, here we are, looking at his knot."  
A moment passed in hushed contemplation.  
"It really is impressive."  
"Focus, Drowsky. Check for spell traces. Identify that charm he had."  
Several quiet minutes passed, as O'Lloth conducted a brisk examination, and Drowsky stared at the corpse, intently following magics invisible to the naked eye.  
"O'Lloth. I've got something." When she turned to look at him, tossing her hair back, he continued. "The protective spell is a customized Q'plal. Must have cost - I don't even know - a hundred thousand, easy?" O'Lloth managed to look suitably impressed, and nodded for him to continue. "Basically, and I'm dumbing it down immensely for your feeble mind to comprehend-"  
"I'll poison your tea."  
"-You take a whole bunch of magic in potentia, and implant it just beneath the skin. If the skin is impacted, the magic turns into a solid barrier. The worst you'll wind up with is some surface damage."  
"Solid? So you can't breathe through it?"  
"No, but that's not normally a problem. It can flicker on and off quite quickly. Practically, it's about as bad as wearing a close-faced helmet. You may get a little short of breath, but unless you're in a literal whirlwind of steel..."  
O'Lolt paused, then asked. "What about blunt trauma?"  
Drowsky groaned. "I was simplifying for you, damnit. Stop making me work."  
"Blunt trauma?"  
"The magic will take the force behind the blow and dissipate it across the body. If they get hit hard enough, full body bruise. If it's really, really hard, then maybe you have some internal damage. But at that point, there would be a crater."  
"What about strangulation?"  
"Ehhhhh." Drowsky shrugged. "If it wasn't a custom fit, then it might work. The standard ones aren't as quick to react, and their tolerance for depth is more variable. Have to be, so they can fit. The whole point of a Q'plal is that it doesn't stop you from living your life, but it's there when you need it."  
O'Lloth scoffed. "Watched their advertisements in the arena, have you?"  
"Guilty as charged. There was a match last week -" He stopped, and returned to the discussion at hand. "But it is a custom fit, so the spell had excellent knowledge of all the ways in which he naturally moved. When it sensed something amiss, it would turn on. And Howlstein could always manually trigger it if he felt threatened."  
"But smothering ought to work." She nodded at the pillows flung all about the room.  
Drowsky looked at them, considering. "Well, sure, it could. But he's what, two meters, twenty stone, entering the prime of his life, and a wolf-form?"  
"A consideration when looking at the suspects, then." O'Lloth frowned. "I found no evidence of poisoning in his various orifices. I'll need for time to look for injuries through which poison could be administered."  
"Oh, come off it, O'Lloth. I already told you that he's wearing the finest impenetrable magic money can buy. And we both know that poisoning someone like this is impossible. Dokkalfar may have had a non-clone son, but that doesn't mean she didn't pump him full of the latest antivenoms. I prefer blackspore poison in my tea, by the way."  
"I know, Tiir. I was the one who introduced you to it."  
"Oh. Right, you did. Sorry, distracted."  
She huffed. "It's just a cock. And a useless one, now. And before you say anything more, regulation prohibits it with corpses of victims. Though you do raise an interesting point."  
"Oh?"  
"We agree, it shouldn't still be erect. And his blood isn't pooling in his back. I'd guess, if we could manage to cut him, he would still bleed."  
Drowsky turn on her, eyebrows quizzical. "He's still alive?"  
"Don't be absurd. His heart isn't beating, his brain isn't working, his blood is just still moving."  
"Why?"  
"I'll tell you. And I'll even use small words, so you're sure to understand."  
A small vase holding a collection of ethereally beautiful flowers quite suddenly fell apart into hundreds of pieces.  
"Couldn't you have done it to the ugly vase?"  
"O'Lloth, the point."  
She turned up her palms. "There is a strong, but rare drug that makes one's blood very excited. But instead of making the heart beat faster, it makes the blood bigger. I believe, right now, he would bleed two to three times as much as a normal person. At least until the effect wore off."  
Drowsky frowned. "Why?"  
"Because it means you can have sex until you die of exhaustion, the drug wears off, or your cock breaks."  
"But what about-"  
"Drowsky, I am simplifying. Immensely. Suffice to say that this condition applies to all bodily fluids. And don't worry about the details."  
"Alright, O'Lloth. So, we've ruled out strangulation, poison, conventional weapons - and there's no evidence of attack spells, or concealing spells on attack spells, or erasing the traces of attack spells, or erasing the traces of concealing spells on attack spells. And so on."  
"Agreed. He's in perfect physical condition. Apart from being dead."

X X X

The door to the interrogation room closed. O'Lloth leaned back in her chair and sighed. "In conclusion, suspect sixteen gives excellent blowjobs, but doesn't know anything, they left before the orgy really got going, etcetera. Not that you appreciated the artistry."  
Drowsky sagged against the edge of the table. "I object to that."  
"Object all you like. You've clearly discarded quality for quantity."  
"Hey, opportunities like this don't come often for me. I'm trying to enjoy myself, here!"  
O'Lolth rolled her eyes. "'Trying' is how I'd put it. Get over Dox already!"  
The table rather abruptly split down the center, with a deafening crack. Before the sound had finished ringing about the room, the door swung open again and suspect seventeen sashayed in. She was generously curved, especially compared to the svelte forms of her fellow suspects. Her dusky features had a slightly foreign cast, and her silvery-white hair was artfully arranged, for all that it looked disheveled.  
"Do come in - Talriina, was it?" O'Lloth smiled at her, standing up. "Please, take a seat." She indicated her chair.  
"Yes, thank you." Her accent was also foreign, somehow a crisp slurring of familiar words. She swept back her skirts and sat. "What would you like to know, detectives?"  
Drowsky blew air through his lips. "Let's just start at the beginning, Talriina. Did you know Adolf before tonight?"  
"Carnally or personally?"  
"Either. Both."  
"He was part of my welcoming committee."  
Drowsky trailed a fingertip down her hair. "Where are you from?"  
Talriina smiled up at him. "Oh, a city to the far northwest. I doubt you would have heard of it."  
"Try me."  
"Zaekianyr."  
Drowsky nodded. "Ah, yes. They do a lot of work with magma-"  
O'Lloth cut off her partner. "And when did you meet him personally?"  
"Just a few weeks ago. He was my prisoner in the annual raid."  
Drowsky scoffed. "Prisoner! What self-respecting man who let himself be taken prisoner? Panties or death, I say!"  
"University reforms, I'm afraid." O'Lloth tucked her stray lock back behind her ear. "The sororities were a little too ingenious with their traps. After the third consecutive male class was wiped out, the sororities were limited to using only their clothes to fabricate traps. Since the banning of underwire bras, there have been almost no fatalities."  
Talriina pouted. "But the casualty count is almost as high! And no one cares!"  
"Let me guess - most of them are penis strains?"  
"Broken pelvises. Please, give us some credit."  
Looking somewhat pained, Drowsky interrupted. "Prisoner, you say?"  
The girl smiled broadly. "Yup! He was about to get out the front door when I rode a chandelier down onto him. He was fine, but we broke through the floor, and I took care of him until time was called."  
Drowsky looked down at her soft form with a critical eye. "I'm not convinced."  
Talriina smiled sweetly up at him, kicked the side of his knee, and shoved Drowsky's face into her cleavage as he fell. As he struggled for leverage, she wrapped a leg around him and bore him to the ground.  
"Nice technique," O'Lloth said, reclaiming her chair. "Of course, it really only works because you have excellent breasts. Wouldn't you agree, Drowsky?"  
A muffled affirmation.  
"I believe the current arrangement is that any prisoners act as slaves for their captors for the period of a week? That is when you made his acquaintance?"  
The girl nodded. Drowsky moaned in joy.  
Flipping to the latest page of her notepad, O'Lolth asked, pen poised, "And how did you find him?"  
Talriina let out a throaty moan. Somewhat muffled, Drowsky said, "That good?"  
"Drowsky, if you would get your face out of our witnesses' cleavage, you would have seen the eyeroll that accompanied the moan."  
"...But I like it here."  
Rolling her own eyes, O'Lolth continued. "So, indifferent at best."  
"No technique. He was rather taken with me, though. Even took me home during break."  
"Really? That's quite a coup, especially for a foreigner like yourself."  
"Oh, Mrs. Dokkalfar wasn't happy about it at all." Talriina quirked her mouth. "Mr. Howlstein was much nicer, though. Hey, that tickles!" Drowsky had managed to get a hand free, and was busily toying with her breasts.  
"How much nicer?"  
Talriina grinned. "He was doing the same thing as your partner until Adolf told him to back off."  
"And did he?"  
"Oh, they had a bit of a fight first, but yeah. Adolf made it very clear that I was his territory. Mrs. Dokkalfar didn't think much of that."  
"Why not, do you think?"  
She wriggled happily against Drowsky's hand. "Probably thinking her son is getting too uppity, thinking he can have exclusive claim to a female."  
O'Lolth scowled. "That is a very unproper attitude."  
"Yeah, but it was only because I had him so far under my control."  
"Young lady, youthful plays for power are no excuse for transgressing against the most basic tenets of our society. I could charge you with sedition. What's the penalty for that, Drowsky?"  
His free hand released Talriina's breast and snaked up to seize her roughly by the throat. She started and tried to pull away, and a frantic few seconds passed with grunts of exertion and the slap of flesh. In the end, Drowsky was straddling Talriina's chest, both hands wrapped around her throat as she pried at his thumbs.  
"Death by strangulation." He growled.  
O'Lolth set down her notepad and walked over to the pair, tangling her hand in her partner's hair. "Now, now, you know we can't carry out summary executions without a really good reason." Talriina looked up at them, wide eyed and pleading. "Something like, 'she was a foreigner,' 'she assaulted an officer,' 'she committed infidelities with the husband of a high official'..." O'Lolth frowned down at her, and tugged at Drowsky's hair. "That's enough for now, officer. I want her to be able to talk."  
He stopped squeezing, but kept his hands about her throat, feeling Talriina cough and wheeze under him. "Talk. What happened that night?"  
"It - it was normal! Adolf and a few of his friends tried to sneak in, we caught them, someone brought out the drugs, the orgy really got going-"  
Drowsky flexed his fingers. "And you wound up alone in a room with him. Alone. And now he's dead."  
Talriina closed her eyes and gasped out, "I didn't kill him! I fucked him until my cunt was raw, but I didn't kill him!"  
"Easy, Drowsky. Let her talk."  
"We couldn't wear him out. I mean, we're used to them using drugs to keep up. But there were five of us, and we got four more once his friends passed out. And we couldn't get his cock to sag, not even a little! We broke fingernail-knives on him, trying to scratch his back, get him to lose a little blood that way."  
"And then?" O'Lolth asked, cocking her head.  
"Everyone else crawled off to their rooms. It was just me and him, and I couldn't walk straight even if I could stand. Could barely talk, I was so covered in his juices that he was digging in his claws to hold on to me-"  
Drowsky bit his lip, ground his hips into Talriina's chest, and kept his hands in place.  
"-and he came, pulled me off his cock, and pushed me off the bed. I stayed on the floor for a bit - I thought he was going to jump right back on - but nothing happened. When I saw he wasn't moving, and when he didn't wake up when I called, I crawled to my cabinet, downed a healing potion or three, and called for help."  
"Check her." O'Lolth jerked at her partner's hair.  
Drowsky gave a growl of annoyance, but looked intently at Talriina, freeing one hand to make a few magical gestures. "Confirmed. Traces of four healing potions and several personal hygiene spells."  
"What, you think I'm going to go out in public still dripping?"  
O'Loth let that pass without comment. "Did you see or hear anything unusual?"  
"I wasn't looking at him the last time. Everyone else had already crashed, so it was just us. But I don't think I heard anything."  
"Don't think, or didn't? Think carefully before you answer. After all, lying to an officer of the law is also punishable by summary execution. Drowsky." He returned his free hand to Talriina's throat.  
The girl pursed her lips, looking up, trying to recall the details from her memories. "There- there was a noise, he made one, like a really short cough. But that was it."  
Drowsky drummed his fingers and shifted his weight back. "Like he started to say something and was cut off?"  
"Something like that? But it wasn't him being strangled - it was too quick for that."  
"Hmmm..." Drowsky released Talriina's throat and stroked his chin.  
O'Lolth patted his head. "We'll have to do some testing. I'll put in an order for subjects. Now, young lady, can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against Adolf?"  
She propped herself up on her elbows, quirking her lips. "He didn't really make enemies. I mean, he's still in school - he doesn't have any real power other than what his parents give him. He played it safe - didn't make any effort to go after his mother's rivals, relied on his physical strength. I mean, really? He was boring."  
"And how about you? Any enemies?"  
Talriina laughed. "Of course! I'm a foreigner making moves on local power. Who isn't against me?"  
Drowsky waved a dismissive hand. "Don't confuse the issue. Practically, you only have a few enemies with the will or capability to pursue you at this time. Who are they?"  
"Hselle Varg, Thea Dvarg, Aleeza Tuende, to give you three who want to put daggers in my back. And I don't think Mrs. Dokkalfar was too fond of me, either."  
O'Lolth whistled. "The dean, the professor of dwarfology, and the president of Delta Tau Phi? And maybe the high priestess? You certainly don't lack for ambition."  
"I mean, it's possible that one of them had Adolf killed to get at me."  
"Or you killed him yourself, as a frame-up for one of them." Drowsky frowned down on her.  
"I'll submit to truth spells to prove I didn't kill him."  
"Ha!" O'Lolth shook her head, grinning. "I know at least a dozen ways around truth spells, and I'd bet Drowsky knows a dozen more. No, the only truth spell I'll trust is a deep mind probe."  
"And surviving a deep mind probe is a miracle. Nevermind surviving one and staying sane." Drowsky cupped Talriina's chin. "So you'll just have to convince us that you're telling the truth."  
She wriggled underneath him. "And do you have any ideas how I can prove my veracity?"

X X X

O'Lolth twirled a lock of her arterial-red hair as she reread the witness statements. Her partner was sitting on the edge of her desk, rummaging in his coat for his snuff tin. The noise of the station house was manageable for once, with the beat cops out cudgeling their way to their quotas.  
He found the gaily painted tin, imbibed, sneezed several times into a silk handkerchief, and asked, "So, two days in, what have we got?"  
"Broadly? Nothing. Howlstein the Fourth had no enemies, no rivals, no one with a grudge against him. In lieu of making enemies and crushing them with the overwhelming force of his station and money, he elected to not make enemies."  
"How very unusual." Drowski dabbed at his nose with the handkerchief, and offered his snuff tin to his partner.  
She waved it off, and continued. "Exceptionally. It almost makes me think that he was defective."  
He arched an eyebrow. "Are you planning to put that in your report, officer?"  
"Certainly not. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't consider this line of thinking. Say he wasn't up to our cultural standards-"  
"Valeen, he was a natural-born. A natural-born wolf. It goes without saying that he wasn't up to our cultural standards, regardless of what went through his mind."  
O'Lolth slapped down the paperwork. "Hellfire, Tiir, that's exactly my point! You know that, I know that, he must have known that! Every day, it might have been in his thoughts - imagine how constantly inferior he must have felt!"  
Drowsky screwed up his face. "So... you're telling me he was a submissive? Naturally?"  
"No." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm saying that he must have had a massive inferiority complex. Regardless of what he did, society would never approve of him."  
"So he hated himself?"  
O'Lolth turned her palms upward. "Maybe? I mean, I don't think it was that simple. But you remember the drug he was using? The blood engorger?"  
"I do. Found some of it while searching the room. I invited two of the Delta Tau Phi girls, bought a half dozen prostitutes, and..." He paused, then shrugged. "Well, the memories are a little hazy, what with the cock rampage, but I certainly enjoyed myself."  
"And you took how much? A pinch?"  
Drowsky extended a hand and wobbled it back and forth. "Thereabouts."  
"Well, while you were doing all of them, I was in the lab with Howlstein."  
"I'm jealous."  
"Stop fantasizing, we're working here. From my tests, I can tell you that Howlstein took at least a handful of the stuff."  
Drowsky stared. "You're serious?" At O'Lolth's nod, he exhaled loudly. "I was going full tilt for at least four hours. Even accounting for size differences-"  
"Which are mostly covered by the differences in the size of your hands."  
"-How long was Howlstein going? A day? Two?"  
O'Lolth glanced at her paperwork. "Sixteen hours at Delta Tau Phi. It's difficult to be sure, but I think he was in the red light district for at least a day beforehand. Maybe longer. I'm going off of my sources in the area, and they're not great with linear time."  
"I'm impressed his heart didn't burst. I assume you checked for internal damages?"  
She nodded. "As well as I could. Let me tell you, getting a scalpel that could penetrate his Q'plal took some doing. Also, he geysered. Be thankful you missed it."  
"So where does that leave us?"  
"With Howlstein's inferiority complex. At this point, I want to call it suicide."  
Drowsky quirked his eyebrows and looked sidelong at his partner. "Alright, let's pretend I believe you. How do you figure?"  
"Because given that his Q'plal was still active, he had no wounds that even an in-depth physical examination could uncover, I verified the absence of any poisons in sufficient concentration to kill him, and since he was awake when he died, I don't see how he could have been killed without his own consent. And, like Talriina said, he was boring."  
"Talriina could be lying."  
"She could be. But there's only so much her lying would change. It's a physical impossibility that he was asleep, given the amount of blood engorger in his system. Unless she has some strange foreign magic that leave traces you can't detect, or she can totally remove energy drain burns from his cock after fucking the life out of him, she's innocent."  
"Well, she'll be happy to hear it. Mind if I deliver the news?" Drowsky adjusted the fit of his trousers.  
"I'm not done yet. You said something about him being able to manually activate his Q'plal?"  
"Yessssss...?"  
"I assume there's no way someone else could have activated it?"  
"Basically, yes. I mean, in theory, the maker could activate it, but they would have had to leave themselves a back door in the enchantment. And believe me, professionals have been looking for ways around the Q'plal for a long time now. If there was a back door, they would have found it."  
"Even if it was just in Howlstein's?"  
Drowsky pondered for a moment. "It's also in the category of theoretically possible. But practically, you'd have to integrate it into the deepest layers of the enchantment, and that would completely change the way in which you would have to build it. I mean, it's certainly possible. But it would either require extensive prototyping to make sure the rest of the Q'plal was still secure, or it would have failed beforehand. And if you were responsible for making a defective Q'plal, I think Q'plal herself would descend upon you. I don't think any sort of bribe is worth that."  
"Which means that Howlstein was the only one who could have activated it."  
"Indeed. And even if there was a back door, all you've done is make your target impenetrable. Suppressing it? I don't think it's even possible, without bringing the whole Q'plal down in shambles. Antiethical foundation and all that."  
O'Lolth nodded. "So, Howlstein activated his own Q'plal. And smothered himself with it."  
"...Huh. Wouldn't he have passed out before he could finish?"  
"Remember how you can't sleep while on the blood engorgers? I expect it gave him just enough time to make sure he never started breathing again."  
Drowsky considered for a moment, then nodded along. "You're the medical expert. But what do we tell the chief? Or, worse comes to worst, Naadya Dokkalfar?"  
"The truth."  
"Well, they certainly won't expect that."  
"Of course, there's always the chance that Dokkalfar ordered her son to commit suicide, in order to frame Talriina for his murder. In which case, the truth will get us killed." O'Lolth tapped an elegant finger against her cheek.  
They sat in silence, considering their precarious situation. Drowsky pulled his snuff tin out, and began toying with the lid. "You know... I almost don't want to bring it up."  
"But you already have, so finish your thought."  
"But we could request a meeting with Dokkalfar. Try to get a feel for what kind of verdict she wants." He took a pinch of snuff.  
O'Lolth replied. "Better than -"  
"Achoo!"  
"-tossing the dice-"  
"Achoo!"  
"-and hoping that-"  
"Achoo!"  
"-truth favors us. I'll set up the-"  
"ACHOOO!"  
"-meeting. ...One of these days, you are going to sneeze hard enough that your brains fall out."  
Drowsky dabbed delicately at his nose. "And deprive you of my company? Perish the thought."

X X X

The Dokkalfar estate was a marvel of decadence. The fixtures dripping with glittering gems, the carpet was thick enough to cushion a twenty-foot fall, and the slaves were not only quietly attendant, but works of art in their own right - cloth-of-gold costumes cut to display elaborate scarification and tattoos. It was enough that O'Lolth and Drowsky didn't mind having been kept waiting for two hours.  
Finally, Naadya Dokkalfar, high priestess, overseer of the clone templates, swept into the sitting room, followed by a cloud of lackeys. She was tall - a handspan taller than O'Lolth - with a taut musculature and a seraphific face. The officers pulled themselves from the cushioned depths of their chairs - pushing complimentary slaves out of their laps - and bowed deeply.  
She waved her hand impatiently. "Yes, yes. What do you have to tell me of your investigations?"  
O'Lolth began, "Your Eminence, we had questions concerning your relationship to one of our witnesses."  
"You can't expect me to know every loose-lipped member of Delta Tau Phi."  
"This one claims to have met you. One Talriina of Zae-" O'Lolth abruptly cut off the unnatural expression on Dokkalfar's face.  
She was smiling. Broadly, like a blithe shepardess thinking of her True Love. "Oh, how is my daughter-to-be?"  
The officers exchanged panicked glances. Drowsky managed to recover first. "Your Eminence... you have been informed of the condition of Adolf Howlstein the Fourth?"  
Dokkalfar's face twisted into a pout. "Oh, how damned inconvenient of him. I'd forgotten about that. I'll just have to adopt Talriina without benefit of marriage."  
One of Dokkalfar's lackey's stepped forward. "Your Eminence, such an action would be highly irregular-"  
O'Lolth, well practiced, ducked behind the chair as the lackey exploded in a shower of pus and viscera. Drowsky, used to doing the exploding, was unprepared. Gamely, he blinked several times to clear his eyes, and asked. "Shall we assume that you will stand behind Talriina's testimony? She is of foreign birth, and as such, we are required by law to obtain witnesses to her character. She would be well upheld with one such as yourself behind her."  
The smile returned. "Of course, officers. I swear by my reputation as to the excellence of Talriina of Zaekianyr's character. Any testimony she offered is certain to be correct. I trust you will see to the end of these affairs with expedience?"  
O'Lolth inclined her head. "To be certain, your Eminence. We already have a suspect in custody. The law demanded that Talriina's testimony be sponsored before we could render judgment. Her testimony is of the utmost importance, and your aid means we may close this case within the day."  
"Excellent." Dokkalfar spun on her heel, and strode from the room, surviving minions swept along in her wake.  
Once the officers were well quit of the estate, Drowsky stuck his hand in his jacket, swore vociferously, and combusted a street-vendor. His partner quirked an eyebrow.  
"The pus got into my snuff box."

X X X

"I think you're overthinking it, Valeen."  
O'Lolth drummed her fingers on her desk. "I know, Tiir. Look, will you at least admit that this is an excellent way for Talrrina to set up Dokkalfar for a betrayal later? Especially when Talriina considers Dokkalfar an enemy, and the high priestess clearly doesn't feel the same way? Or that Dokkalfar knows all of this, and is lulling Talriina into a false sense of security? Or that they're conspiring together to undermine the sorority, or even the whole university?"  
"If I say yes, can we close this case?"  
"I don't want you to just say that I'm right. This is important!"  
With a very sincere tone and sympathetic face, Drowsky said, "It's very important. Your suspicions are absolutely valid. Can we close the case?"  
O'Lolth sighed. "Yeah. I just hate being used as a catspaw."  
"If you still mind that, you don't do enough drugs. Want to come over to my place and help me figure out a way to get back at Dox?"  
"Ugh. You're coming over to my place. Your domestic drools all over the floor."  
Drowsky spread his hands. "Look, I thought shattering his jaw would help with that!"  
"Yet another reason you need me. Medical expertise and common fucking sense."


End file.
